Quick hits and Super Bowl Prediciton

I know I owe a few wedding related posts, but I haven't had much time lately to sit down and organize my thoughts into a semi-coherent post. There are some things that I need to write down though, so I am going with the quick hits format. From this point on it will just be links, opinions and my Super Bowl prediction.

• At the beginning of the year I had my friend Brian place a small bet that the Jazz would win the NBA title. Odds: 20-1. Right now the Jazz have won 7 straight and according to John Hollinger's playoff odds have a 16% chance of winning the title. Here is a good article from Henry Abbott about the Jazz recent success.
• Also, the Jazz own the Knicks first round pick next year, which according to the standings right now would be the 9th pick in the draft.
• I don't know what it is about my favorite basketball teams, but the rankings based on stats really seem to favor them. I wish I could be as confident in the Hollinger's playoff odds for the Jazz and also I wish I could be as confident in the fact that Duke is 3rd in the RPI rankings. It is too bad that I don't believe that Duke is the 3rd best team in the nation.
• Just in case you wondering UNC is 77th in the RPI rankings...in between Arizona St and Western Carolina.
• I am thrilled with the Twins offseason. First Thome and now Orlando Hudson. It will be a shock to me if they aren't picked to win the division in every preseason magazine.
• Who knew that the Cradle of Coaches (Miami University) extended to the Saints? After reading this article there is even less doubt about who I am cheering for.
• Why can't I believe all the talking heads who think that the Colts are going to win? I know they haven't lost a game they tried to win, but I still don't think they are a great team.
• The problem with the Colts is that I don't think they played many teams with a really great QB. The teams that did have a good QB were the Texans, Patriots and Cardinals with Schaub, Brady and Warner. They blew out the Cardinals, but were very lucky to beat the Patriots (4th and 2) and Texans.
• The Saints on the other hand beat McNabb, Brady, Eli Manning, Warner and Favre. All of those games except the Vikings game was a Saints blowout.
• Both the Colts and the Saints played the AFC East. The Saints were 4-0 without any of the games besides the Dolphins game being that close. The Colts on the other hand were very fortunate to win the Patriots and Dolphins game and they lost (even though they didn't try) to the Bills and Jets.
• It all seems to point to a Saints win. Official prediction is 31-27 Saints.

Countdown to Duke - UNC: 4 days. We should know a lot more about both teams after that game.